The Valley of Depression ~ David

Who isn't familiar with the story of David and Bathsheba? Do you remember the depression David experienced when he was punished by God with the loss of his son? It's such a good story for us to think about because David represents the chinks in our armor too. Here is the shepherd boy David who had risen to be a king. David loved God and followed His ways. And God loved David. Who would believe that this godly man could fall so far...failing in his duty to lead his army, committing adultery, murder and cover-up?
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Let's begin with the prophet Nathan's going before David at court. He tells him a story about a rich man and a poor man, which is actually a parable about the wrongs David had done. You might be wondering how this all came about--how was it that the king was so bored that he couldn't sleep. David was walking on his rooftop rather than leading his army, which was his chief duty. He had stayed in the city while he sent Joab and the army to finish the war Israel was fighting against the Ammonites. David the king was at home watching Bathsheba bathe. She was so beautiful that he sent for her and lay with her, and she conceived a child.

                                                                                                

When she learned that she was expecting his child, she sent a note to David telling him about it. David brought her husband Uriah home from the battle and did everything possible to get him to go home to his wife. But Uriah was a true soldier and refused to take pleasure while his men were fighting. So David sent him back to the war with instructions to Joab to put him in the front of the battle and pull back so that he would be killed.  What David did was to take care of the problems.  But in the very last sentence of 2 Samuel 11:26, it says: "But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord." So then, God sent Nathan the prophet before David to make him aware that he hadn't been as successful as he thought in dealing with his situation.

                                                               

But Nathan didn't tell David that he had sinned by committing adultery and killing a man. Rather, he told him a story about a rich man and a poor man. The rich man had many flocks and herds, but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb, which was much-loved by the family because it had been raised up with his children. In fact, the story says that "It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his own bosom; and it was like a daughter to him." Then what happened? A traveler came to the rich man and rather than take of his own animals, he took the poor man's lamb to prepare for him.
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Now David was greatly incensed, and said to Nathan very angrily: "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity." But Nathan said to him, "You are the man!"

And then Nathan went on to tell David what the Lord God of Israel wanted to say to him. Nathan reminded David of what God had done for him:  He had made him king over Israel after delivering him from the hand of Saul, and had given David Saul's household. But David had killed Uriah and taken his wife. Then God's judgment was pronounced: The sword would never depart from the house of David, adversaries would arise in his own house, and his wives would be taken in the sight of all the people. 

And when David had heard this, he said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And although God didn't cause David to die, in regard to the child conceived in adultery, God said: "However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die."

After the birth of the child of David and Bathsheba, God struck the child so that it became ill. Now comes the Valley of Depression for David. David pleaded with God for the child; he fasted and lay on the ground all night. After seven days, the child died. And when David knew that the child was dead, he got up off the ground, washed, and changed his clothes. His servants were puzzled, and he said to them: "While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me'."

Can you believe that David could suffer through this terrible sin against the Lord, take his punishment for it, and wholeheartedly  return to God? Remember that for the rest of his life,  he had many judgments playing out against him because of his sin. In fact, David's sin had far-reaching consequences for his kingdom in the future as well.  But rather than staying in the Valley of Depression, David comforted his wife, and God blessed them with another child whose name was Solomon. And God loved him. So even though David sinned as we all do,  his love of God and his  life are an inspiration to us forever!

Blessings...Mimi